Disclaimer: 1. We are not medical experts and all data / information is picked or referred by reliable public channels and are marked accordingly. .
Brave New World is a dystopian social science fiction novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: Let us brace up for a BRAVE NEW WORLD where the protagonist now is CORONA 19 VIRUS and the world may not be all that positive as it looked earlier wih multiple challenges emerging. .
Let us start by listing a few incidents that have caught over attention amidst the multiple events happening across the country.
- First is the tweet from DR Sangita Reddy Joint MD Apollo Hospitals, the largest hospital chain in the country which is sort of SoS to the country’s top office [1] The tweet is quoted here: “As I tweet, an oxygen tanker is outside the gate of Air Liquide Panipat plant at IOCL and he is not being allowed inside
Haryana police are stopping it & not letting the oxygen out of Haryana. Need urgent intervention!! @PMOIndia @rajnathsingh @PiyushGoyal @cmohry
@MoHFW_INDIA”
This was followed by some more tweet updating the situation.
- There was this interview by Dr Sunil Sagaar and Dr Bishnu Panigrahi from Shanti Mukand Hospital and Fortis hospital NCR respectively, both of whom were at their wits end after acknowledging the precarious situation at the hospitals they are with in past 24 hrs where some serious mishap would have happened in the absence of Oxygen.
- The CM of Delhi who has an obsession with Media , TV and self publicity/glorification came again on TV today and placed the onus and burden on the shoulders of the central government while keeping himself and his government out of any responsibility [2] . Earlier he was also reprimanded by the PM for trying to telecast a live confidential meeting with the PM [3]
IN our opinion , all the three cases that we have picked do not point to a healthy picture. Accepting and acknowledging that there has been some gaps in handling the situation especially the medical infrastructure , medicines and others items like oxygen. The crisis of Oxygen is very real and the grim picture comes out when one reads the tweet of the MD of the top hospital calling the PMO for help. By grace of GOD situation have been controlled at various places for a major disaster but we are of the opinion that if there is a third and fourth wave then things may get out of control in June and onwards. The cases are increasing as of now, there are recoveries but also deaths. But more importantly there has been mismanagement and we must accept it. The vaccination drive has to still gather steam.
A paper from few Prof Mahendra Verma et al. of IIT Kanpur says that the virus infection may peak by Mid May. [4] [5] [6]. AS per Prof Verma there will be around 4 lakhs case a day at its peak. However the paper which uses mathematical model is restricted by the fact that it uses current available data which may not be all correct. The second wave as we know the present virus which is actually a mutant started from Mharashtra. India has been reporting about 200,000 Covid cases daily since 15 April – well beyond its peak of 93,000 cases a day last year. Dr Jeffrey Barrett, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, says it is possible there could also be a cause-and-effect relationship with the new variant, but there is still a lack of evidence.He points out that the India variant has been around since late last year: “If it is driving the wave in India it has taken several months to get to this point which would suggest it’s probably less transmissible than the Kent B117 variant.” [7] .
Another paper [8] suggests that further mutations of the original virus are inevitable. The paper says, ” Vaccines are a key part of a long-term strategy to bring SARS-CoV-2 transmission under control. Our data suggest that vaccine escape by the virus of current spike-directed vaccines designed against the Wuhan-1 strain will be inevitable, particularly given that E484K is emerging independently and recurrently on a B.1.1.7 (501Y.V1) background, and given the rapid global spread of B.1.1.7. Other major variants with E484K such as 501Y.V2 and V3 are also spreading regionally. This should be mitigated by designing next-generation vaccines with mutated spike sequences and using alternative viral antigens.”. [8]
Conclusion:
The situation in the country is very precarious to put it gently. No one can can afford complacency and ignorance. It is the responsibility of every one from educated well off citizens to state admin, central govt , opposition and private organizations , professionals besides the common man. Politics should be the last word or thing to do when the entire world is being tested. There is a trend on the social media to blame the govt and esp the PM and the HM for anything and everything which is not fair. Let us accept that we all dropped our guards after virus 1 slowed somewhere around February 2021 and march which was not the wise things to do. Malls and restaurants were full to capacity while roards were crowded. The bad part was no social distancing and masks were carried. Let each of us ask whether we have followed strict social distancnig norms from Feb 2021.
So let us be serious about this virus. Let us accept that this virus has become a part of the new international and world order . It has signalled the dawn of a new era. WE have to accept it with grace. AS Einstein has said, ” God does not play dice” , so we must know that we the humans are not here to eat play and make merry. WE are on an evolutionary journey and will have to follow natures law. Another area that is challenging us is the climate change happening globally.
The government has to be wise and alert. IT can invoke a medical emergency which should keep medical and other related facility / infrastructure as top priority across the nation. There has to be certain uniformity across the nation. WE have to go for a long haul. WE repeat let us not treat this corona virus as a one time pandemic. It has come and will now stay. It is us the humans who have to adjust now with suitable social , medical and professional practices.
PM Modi can also look for a national HEALTH mission just like the swachchata mission and dedicated huge funds to revamp and overhaul the complete medical facility in the country. That is the biggest lesson which is coming from corona virus. Else there will be blame game and chaos across the country. Let us brace ourselves fr some tough time going ahead until the govt and citizens wake up to the new reality. AS we said we have ventured into a new world and it is incumbent upon all us us to accept and live with it gracefully. The freedom given to us by nature that have been exploited . It is time to buckle up the seat belts.
References:
- https://twitter.com/drsangitareddy/status/1385124956002930689?s=20 .
- https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/story/delhi-cm-arvind-kejriwal-pm-modi-covid-oxygen-supply-shortage-tragedy-1794210-2021-04-23
- https://www.livemint.com/news/india/second-wave-of-covid-19-may-peak-in-may-say-iit-kanpur-scientists-11618999616126.html
- https://sites.google.com/view/mahendra-verma/
- https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/second-covid-19-wave-likely-to-peak-in-third-week-of-may-sbi/story/437400.html
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56844925
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03412-7
Asheesh Shah
Samanvaya.
